Legal Practice Area

Competition & Antitrust

Strategic legal advice on merger control, anticompetitive conduct investigations, and market dominance issues under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act â€” helping businesses operate confidently in Nigeria's evolving competitive landscape.

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Overview

Navigating Nigeria's competition law framework

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2019 (FCCPA) fundamentally transformed Nigeria's competition law landscape, establishing the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) as the principal regulator. Our Competition & Antitrust practice advises businesses on compliance, transactions, and enforcement proceedings under this framework.

We advise on mandatory merger notifications, conduct compliance programmes, respond to FCCPC investigations, and represent clients in proceedings before the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal. Our team has significant experience navigating complex multi-jurisdictional deals where Nigerian merger control is one of several approvals required.

Beyond formal enforcement, we counsel boards and management on competition law risk in commercial agreements, distribution arrangements, pricing strategies, and market-leading conduct â€” helping businesses structure their operations to avoid inadvertent breaches of the FCCPA.

What We Handle

Key Areas of Practice

Merger Control & FCCPC Filings

Merger notification assessments, pre-notification consultation with FCCPC, preparation and filing of merger notifications, and managing approval processes for qualifying transactions.

Cartel & Collusion Defence

Defence in FCCPC investigations of price-fixing, bid-rigging, market allocation, and other horizontal anticompetitive conduct; internal investigations; leniency applications.

Abuse of Dominance

Advising market-dominant businesses on exclusionary conduct, predatory pricing, refusal to deal, tying, bundling, and other dominance-related issues under the FCCPA.

Competition Compliance

Designing and implementing competition compliance programmes, conducting compliance training, reviewing commercial agreements, and carrying out compliance audits.

FCCPC Investigations & Tribunal

Representing clients in FCCPC investigations, responding to market inquiries, appearing before the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal, and managing appeals to the Court of Appeal.

Consumer Protection

Advisory on consumer protection obligations under the FCCPA, representing businesses in consumer complaints proceedings, and product recall and liability management.

Our Methodology

Proactive compliance, decisive defence

Risk Assessment

We assess your business activities, agreements, and market position to identify and quantify competition law risks before they become enforcement issues.

Transaction Screening

For M&A and joint ventures, we screen transactions early for merger notification requirements, assess timelines, and develop regulatory strategy to minimise deal risk.

Regulatory Engagement

We manage constructive engagement with the FCCPC â€” whether in the context of merger review, market inquiries, or enforcement investigations â€” to achieve the best outcome.

Tribunal Representation

Where enforcement proceedings escalate, we provide robust representation before the Competition Tribunal and in appeal proceedings, deploying both legal and economic expertise.